sunsets and pictures [private]

The only other thing Fern loved more than training was taking pictures. She was on her way to the lake with her Canon 700d camera in her hand. The sun was starting to set, and the was the perfect time to take pictures. The sun's rays would reflect onto the water, making it glisten. She preferred the lake to the beach in the summer only because it was less busier. The beach was always occupied by campers at all times of the day. She wasn't in the mood to deal with cross right now.

When Fern arrived at the lake, there were a few people here and there. There were some campers in the water, but that was okay as long as they didn't bother her, she wouldn't bother them. Fern immediately started taking pictures because sunsets only lasted so long and she wanted to take pictures from different angles. The sun was about to sink into the ground as she took her last picture, one of her best pictures yet. When Fern went to look at it, she noticed a shadow of a person messing up the picture. She immediately turn around, her blonde hair whipping behind her with the fast motion. She looked at the closest person to her with a scrutinizing gaze. "You ruined my shot!" She yelled at them angrily.

Deciding he needed to take a break from all the other campers in his cabin, Simon made the choice to take a walk to the lake. Because he really did not want to talk to any other campers he grabbed his phone and began the search for his headphones. "Seriously?" he mumbled to himself as he sank to his knees to look under his bed. Coming up unsuccessful, he stilled as he saw the wire peeking out from underneath his pillowcase. Plugging them into his phone and sticking the earbuds in he scrolled through his music to find his favorite playlist, starting out with "Renegades" by X Ambassadors.As he approached the lake, he was surprised to find it was a bit busy. Campers were in the water splashing around while others were sitting at the edge. He couldn't blame them. It was a beautiful evening. Not wanting to get his shoes wet Simon made sure to stay right above the water line while walking around. With his head down he kept walking, until he heard a female voice calling out to him. The music somewhat muffled what she had said, but Simon managed to catch a "you ruined by shot". Taking out his earbuds he looked up at her. "Sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going. Is your picture completely ruined?"

Fern was upset, and even that was an understatement. To someone else it might've seemed like something stupid to get mad at it, but this was Fern. She got mad at almost everything, and pictures meant everything to her. Nothing had been going right lately for her, and taking pictures of beautiful things was the only thing she could do to escape. Training wasn't the same anymore when she practiced the same moves again and again. She had no family or half-siblings she knew about. She had no friends, and most of all, she missed Nate. Something was telling her that he was probably dead, but she tried not to think about him anymore. Fern was pretty much on the verge of tears as she looked at the boy. "Yeah it is..." She muttered under her breath. It was partly true. She could always photoshop his shadow out of the picture, but to her you weren't supposed to put filters or edit stuff on nature. Nature was supposed to be effortlessly beautiful in her opinion.

"Who are you?" Fern asked rudely. She could've been nicer about it, but she wanted to know his name. She could barely remember the last time she was actually nice to someone.. She always kept that cold facade. Every time she got to know someone, they always left her. She was used to it by now but just preferred to keep to herself. The more she thought about it, she decided she didn't want this poor boy who happened to stumble across her path to die. "Nevermind." She said, returning to her camera. If he kept talking to her, that was his choice; not hers.

Simon grimaced as he heard her mutter under her breath. He then turned to look where the sun had already passed the horizon, as if he could somehow stop time for her to retake her picture. Simon never tried to purposefully hurt people, and when he did it accidentally, he felt awful. He knew what it felt like to be hurt and everyday he made sure that he would never be the cause of someone else's pain. Immediately he began to ramble. " Oh my gosh. I am so sorry about your picture. I was listening to music and not looking where I was going. I would never try to purposefully ruin your picture. My name's Simon, I'm fairly new to the camp, and I haven't been claimed yet. Oh, and I'm 18." With his face steadily turning red like a tomato, Simon began wrapping up his earbuds around his phone he placed it into his pocket. He ran a finger through his hair, attempting to restore it to a semi presentable state. He might be a happy and positive person, but he was also shy. He tried to never be the center of attention, and he could feel that all of this girl's attention was currently focused on him. And maybe not in a good way.

coded by sapphire

Last edited by Max♥ on Wed Aug 17, 2016 3:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

Fern had been looking at her camera and stopped paying attention to the boy. She thought he left already, but when he started talking she looked up. His rambling couldn't help but make her smile a bit. He was new, so he didn't know the infamous reputation Fern Daniels had around camp. That was both good and bad. "It's fine, seriously. There's always tomorrow's sunset." She responded with a sigh. The stars were starting to come out, so she could take more pictures of the night sky reflected onto the water. It wouldn't be as pretty as the picture she wanted to have taken, but it was alright.

Fern looked back at the boy before returning her gaze to her camera. "You can sit down if you want." She said gesturing to the sand. "I'm Fern," She hesitated before adding, "daughter of Nemesis." She looked at the lake to see a few campers start to leave. The water got chilly at night, and the wind didn't help either. Fern couldn't help but notice this sudden change in her personality. A month ago, she would've caused a fist fight with the boy just for ruining a picture. Maybe it was time she went back to the way she was before her parents died. It would certainly make things easier, but Fern didn't want anyone else she loved taken away from her. It happened three times already, and she felt like it was all her fault. "So, how long have you been here?"

Simon let out a sigh of relief. Realistically he knew that there would be another sunset even if it was a whole twenty four hours away. Every day was different and he had learned not to take them for granted. After watching her take a few more pictures, Simon accepted her invitation to sit on the sand. Crossing his legs underneath him, he leaned back on his hands behind him. "Hello Fern. It's nice to meet you. Have you been interested in photography for long?" The way in which she took the time to line up her shots indicated that she wasn't just an amateur. Simon respected that. Anyone who had a passion should be taken seriously. So, I have to admit. I've only been in camp for about a year now, and I'm still learning about... well, everything. Dp you think you could tell me a bit about Nemesis?"

Fern heard him sigh of relief and that mustered another smile out of her. He was nervous for someone who was new. She could remember her first day like it was yesterday, an angry child who wanted revenge on her parents' deaths. All she could remember for most of her time at camp was her anger. She was always so angry at everyone, and anyone that got in her way had better be ready for a fight. She'd been eleven when she came here, camp had seemed so big then. Now it was relatively small. Fern snapped a few more pictures before turning her gaze back to Simon. "Yeah, for awhile. I got my first real camera when I was thirteen." For once, it felt nice to actually be talking about something she loved to someone. It was rare someone asked about her photography.

Fern hesitated a moment thinking about his question. She didn't know as much as other people knew about their god parents. She just focused on one thing: goddess of revenge. "I don't know that much, I just never really had an interest in learning about her. But, she's the goddess of revenge, and she'd show her wrath to anyone who committed hubris. Her parents were Nyx and Oceanus, maybe. The books weren't that accurate. She has multiple names, but her most common is Nemesis. Her other names are Rhamnousia, Rhamnusia,and Adrasteia." She responded. Fern took a few more shots before setting her camera down gently on the sand. "So you're unclaimed... do you have any ideas who your god parent might be?"

Seeing as Fern no longer appeared to want to rip his head off, Simon relaxed even further. In his eighteen years of life he had learned one of the best ways to make people feel calm is to have them talk about something they were passionate about. Now that there was no longer animosity between Fern and him over the picture he could fully relax and enjoy the warm summer night. After listening to Fern explain about Nemisis, Simon tilted his head up and looked up to the moon through the trees, thinking about how lucky he was to be in camp. "Well, since being here, I've noticed that al ot of the kids that seem to have the same talents as me, so I've taken it upon myself to decide that I'm a son of Demeter. I'm really good at farming, working with grains, all that good stuff". Turning his head toward Fern he offered her a small smile. Although it was nice to be able to talk with somebody who understood what it was like to be different. He missed his mom and dad and brother like crazy, but knew that being away from them was the safest option for all of them.

Fern listened to Simon as she looked up at the trees. "Oh, thats good then. You have powers right?" She asked him, instantly jealous. Being a daughter of Nemesis, she didn't get any powers. Even the children of Aphrodite had powers. It wasn't much, but at least they had charmspeak and could speak French. She couldn't help but feel useless at times when everyone else had to practice to master their powers. The only power she got was wanting revenge on everybody even if they did the simplest thing. It was more of a disadvantage than anything.

Fern smiled back at him before asking, "So what's your story? How'd you get here?" It was a bold question to ask because most demigods didn't have the best stories before they came to camp. She certainly didn't. Was she ready to share what happened to her? She wasn't sure. She rarely told anyone what happened to her before camp. You had to be really good friends with Fern to find out what happened. She kept her parent close to her because she loved them and they were special to her. Since she was trying something new by bing nice, she might as well do stuff she wouldn't normally do. "Have you snuck out of camp yet?" She questioned with her usual smirk on her lips.

Simon huffed out a small laugh at Fern's question.I do have talents, but I'm sorry to say they aren't very impressive. I can't heal myself with water of cause thunderstorms to erupt in the blink of an eye. My talents have more to do with the Earth. I'm really good at growing plants and grains, and things like that. I've found that no matter the conditions I can always get something to grow. My dad used to say i had ther biggest thumb he had ever seen. At this remark Simon turns sullen, remembering the family he had to leave behind for life at the camp. So in response to your next question, my journey to camp isn't very interesting. Strange things started happening, I started seeing strange people around which l told my dad. He didn't think anything of it. One day I ran into this kid who had the same experiences going on. He told me about the camp and suggested I come here. I know it's for the better but honestly, I miss my family. And since I don't have a ton of friends yet I haven't found the time to sneak out. I didn't even think that kids did that!" Simon wondered about her story, but was unsure if hers was as normal as his.

Fern gave him a fake smile. "Well, at least you have powers." She muttered practically under her breath. She didn't want to burst his bubble, but not everyone was lucky enough to have powers. If anything her godly parentage was more of a flaw or downfall because she wanted revenge on the littlest things and she wouldn't forget it until she had it. "I'm pretty sure you're a son of Demeter though." She added on a bit more brightly.

Fern politely listened to his story. His story was pretty good for a demigod. If she told him her story, he'd probably poop his pants because of how heart breaking and morbid it was. She understood what he meant though. She missed her step-mom and father, but at least he could go visit them at some point. If Fern wanted to go visit her family, she'd have to be dead to see them. She quickly replaced her dark look with a bright smile. "Well sneaking out is my specialty.." She looked around camp before offering, "Want to leave camp?"